1833.
THE MISSOURI SAINTS HIRE LAWYERS AND THE MOB FORMS--NIGHT ATTACK ON BIG
BLUE BRANCH--TWO DAYS OF CRUELTY AND PLUNDER--THE BATTLE--SAINTS GIVE
UP ARMS.
The Saints in Jackson county, taking the advice of the governor,
prepared to try by the common methods of law to gain their rights, and
they relied on his promise to use force if these means failed. They
hired four prominent lawyers and paid them one thousand dollars for
their work. How glad we are that they did this! They showed that they
loved peace and were seeking it by all means in their power. And this
is one more testimony against Missouri.
But at the time, this action of the Saints only made matters worse.
Lawyers Wood, Reese, Doniphan and Atchison, wrote under date of October
30, 1833, agreeing to work for the Saints, and on the night of the
following day, as soon as the news had spread, the mob came together.
There was a branch of the Church on the west bank of the Big Blue river
and this the mob chose to attack.
It was night, and the little lone settlement off in the wilderness was
at peace. Suddenly fifty armed men whose hearts were full of cruelty
appeared and before the Saints could gather to defend themselves it
was too late. They broke into the houses, cursing people with awful
oaths. The children and their mothers were terrified and ran out into
the darkness to hide in the brush with the wild beasts. The fathers
could not even go with them, but were caught and whipped and knocked
down with clubs. When the bleak morning came they crept back, but their
houses were torn down, their homes ruined.
Gray, cheerless November had come. The voices of the wind and storm
were loud and boisterous. The signs of winter were fast appearing.
At such a season it was pleasant to gather in the evening about the
blazing, crackling fire in the great, open hearth and enjoy its
cheerfulness. But this was not the lot of the Saints in Zion.
Night after night without ruth nor mercy the mob broke into the homes
and drove out men and women, the sick and aged, and little children,
and sometimes not daring to go into the houses themselves, the cowards
threw stones through the windows. So you see when the Saints went to
bed they knew not what horrible scene might be before them when they
awoke. How earnestly those little children must have prayed for God to
keep them safe during their sleep, and when morning came for Him to
guard them through the day! Do you think you are as earnest in your
prayers?
On the night of November 1st, the mob was very busy. The men were
divided into groups of fifteen or twenty who went about breaking into
houses and thrusting poles through the windows. Another body of men,
who loved to fill their pockets with stolen goods better than hear the
screams of frightened children, gathered about Gilbert & Whitney's
store. They burst in through three doors and took what they wished, and
scattered other goods about the streets.
When a little band of brethren came up to stop the robbery nearly all
the mob scampered off like sneak-thieves, though one of them named
Richard McCarty was captured. The brethren took him before Justice of
the Peace Samuel Weston, but this officer would issue no warrant for
his arrest, and so he was set free, although he was caught in the very
act of the crime.
On the next day the Saints in Independence left their homes and camped
out together on the prairie, taking as many of the things that were
left as they could carry. The mob, therefore, went to the settlement on
the Big Blue river to continue their work. In one house David Bennet
lay sick. If the mob had been made up of the wildest men of the darkest
jungle of Africa they could hardly have been more savage. They dragged
him from his bed, almost beat him to death and shot him in the head
with a pistol, but the injury was not fatal. One of the mob was wounded
that night, perhaps by one of his companions, but it was blamed upon
the Saints, of course.
Upon hearing of this the enemy grew very angry. The Saints had been so
long-suffering that they were no longer expected to use the right of
every human being to defend himself. The mob said openly that Monday
would be a bloody day. Many of the leaders were religious men, and were
required to be at Sunday service. Perhaps because they did not wish to
miss anything, the murder was put off until Monday instead of being
carried out at once.
This general slaughter was probably prevented by the determination of
the brethren that they would fight, if fight they must. A company of
thirty carrying seventeen guns met sixty of the mob who had turned
their horses in Whitmer's cornfield and were hunting a little body
of brethren who had fled. The mob cursed and opened fire, wounding a
number of the Saints. The fire was quickly returned and two of the mob
fell dead, and the rest, leaving their horses and dead companions,
broke into flight.
Two of the brethren, Andrew Barber and Philo Dibble, were wounded
very seriously. Philo Dibble was healed by the blessing of God and
lived to come to Utah with the Saints. He passed away only recently.
Brother Barber died next day and he became the first martyr in this
dispensation--unless we call the little foster-babe of Joseph's a
martyr. It died, you remember, from the effects of mob violence.
How different was Brother Barber's death from that of the two
mobocrats! He gave his life in defense of his brethren, and greater
love than that no man hath. The others died while trying to murder
innocent men. And when the brethren went to them as they lay dead and
deserted in their own blood, they were filled with strange feelings,
for they remembered what one of these, Hugh Brazeale, had said during
his life: "With ten fellows I will wade to my knees in blood, but that
I will drive the Mormons from Jackson county."
This battle took place about sunset. Rumors were at once hurried off to
all parts of the country with all manner of false reports, such as that
the Mormons had taken Independence and were joined by the Indians from
across the border. The people rose in arms. Some prepared to come in
the morning, others gathered in Independence that night.
They ordered the arrest of Sidney Gilbert and others who had caught the
thief McCarty the preceding Friday night, charging them with assault.
Of course they knew that this was not justice--it was the easiest
method of persecution. While the brethren were being tried, the mob
gathered and cursed and made the worst threats, and the prisoners were
taken to jail to save their lives. They were fired on but were not hit,
and the next morning were all set free.
On this day, Tuesday, the 5th of November, one of the greatest wrongs
ever done to a body of citizens in the United States took place.
Lieutenant-Governor Boggs organized the mob into state militia and
placed them under Colonel Pitcher, one of the bitterest enemies of
the Saints. This man called for all the fire arms the Saints owned,
and took them away, directly contrary to the second amendment of the
constitution of the United States. He ordered the Church to go from the
county at once and to give up the men who took part in the battle the
day before to be tried for murder.
The Saints, not wishing to resist the authority of the state and
believing that Lieutenant-Governor Boggs was an honorable man instead
of the traitor and murderer they found him to be, did not resist.
They relied on his false promise that the arms should be taken from
their enemies as well. But, of course, this was never intended. The
Saints were deceived. They gave up the only thing that kept the mob
from falling upon them. But what an example they set! They preferred
to suffer wrong rather than do wrong. Their religion was the Gospel of
peace. They had the courage of martyrs, the bravery of heroes, and yet
throughout all the Missouri persecution they fought only as the last
means of saving wives and children and friends.